Discharging NiMH Necessary?
12-28-2008, 09:05 AM
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Discharging NiMH Necessary?
I'm interested in getting the new Onyx 230 charger for my NiMH batteries. The only downside I found is that is doesn't discharge batteries. Will this radically affect my batterys' performance overtime or will they be okay? I completely run down my batteries when I run my car -does that count?
12-28-2008, 09:35 AM
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RE: Discharging NiMH Necessary?
I can tell you with personal experience that I just charge them to the max and then discharge them in the car. This really should not affect your performance at all. As for storage purposes I would charge them fully and then put them away. That's what I do and they seem to be fine, and maintaining a high voltage.
12-28-2008, 12:24 PM
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RE: Discharging NiMH Necessary?
The only thing a 6-7 cell discharger does is discharges the battery to 5.4 volts. You only see a performance gain when you get a high amp one, like my Integy 30 amp discharger. It trains the battery to maintain higher voltage, but also doesnt get as good runtime. I normally use that one to discharger the battery right after a run so I can put it on my Novak Smart Tray or when I am cycling my batteries and dont feel like using my car. The Novak Smart Tray (the most popular equalizer, but there are many more) gets each cell down to .9 volts. This really helps performance becaues a battery is only as good as its worst cell. But you need to get a SXS battery to use an euqlizing tray.
